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Herche, Victoria
The Adolescent Nation

Re-Imagining Youth and Coming of Age in Contemporary Australian Film.

Rooted in Australia's construction as a young nation, 'coming of age' has been the defining narrative of Australia's national cinema. How do filmmakers of various backgrounds integrate the coming of age narrative through different genres? - This study systematically explores the 'coming of age' theme in Australian feature films produced since the turn of the millennium, foregrounding how films use a range of diverse (his)stories to respond to the centrality of this theme. Rather than focussing on 'coming of age' mainly in its portrayal of a (successful) maturation process, this study explores the possibilities inherent in what is conceived of as a 'permanently' transitional 'coming of age' process, providing a crucial starting point for the re-definition of national fictions. This study explores the genres Road Movie, Crime, Sport film, Romance, and Musical, since these genres thematically represent an adolescent's common experience and interests: being on the road, delinquency, sport, falling in love, music. While Victoria Herche argue that in all mentioned genres the coming of age theme is useful in re-imagining the adolescent as a national icon, this redefinition works in varying degrees. This study foregrounds the connection between culture and politics in the construction of popular images and themes. As much as Australian coming of age films have been influenced by the US-American teen film, the particularities in the Australian context allude to the role of national politics and discourses in the formation of dominant national fantasies. This study is therefore a contribution to the principal debate on the role of arts, and cinema in particular, in either reinforcing or challenging that what is considered 'norm' and 'iconic'. It further contributes to the discussion in contemporary culture of the stabilisation/permanence of adolescence as a process that is either chosen or enforced. Since coming of age is a construction - despite cultural specificities - accessible and known to most societies and cultures, this study's reading of Australian national cinema may be a model for discussing the ways in which filmmakers approach the prevalence of the coming of age narrative also in other settings. 252 Seiten mit 5 Abb., gebunden (Anglistische Forschungen; Band 465/Universitätsverlag Winter 2021)